April, 2008 Here’s My Heart... Most of us are familiar with the story of “The Tortoise (turtle) And The Hare (rabbit)”. As you will recall, the had a race, which, of course, was laughable to the hare, since everyone knows a rabbit can outrun a slow-moving turtle any day. However, as the story continues, and more truths are revealed, the rabbit ended up losing the race because of the inconsistency with which he ran. He would “start and stop”, waste his time, spend too much time resting, until finally the turtle crossed the finish line first. We all know the moral of that story is to run with consistency and stay in the race to the very end. It also teaches us to not be lazy, nor to “assume” we will be successful simply because we think we are better than those around us. You know, a lot of Christians are like that tortoise. They start out to “take the world”in a day or so. But, before long they become discouraged, disillusioned, maybe even angry, or hurt, and before long they simply “drop out of the race”. They are faithful for a few weeks, maybe months, and then their faithfulness begins to fade. I wish we could all be “Tortoise Christians”. Oh, we might not get every task done in record time, but by steadily “walking the walk”, keeping our focus on the prize before us of daily, consistently walking with Jesus, one day we will “cross the finish line”in complete victory. Let’s ask ourselves, are we “Turtle Christians”or “Rabbit Christians”? Which one do you think God wants us to be? Yep, me too! Blessings. -Jim Clayton